Electra Redesign: 2023
I can't believe I hid this piece for so long. I knew I'd have to bring it up eventually, I just didn't know when. I posted it once during my Tumblr days before forgetting about it and pretending it never existed after deleting my blog. Because this piece is almost a year old and because I've drawn Electra once since then, might as well reflect on what my thought process was at the time.
Mid-2023 was a busy time for me; I was working on a lot of things, finishing a lot of things, and a new school year was on the horizon. It was around that time that I wanted to start drawing more efficiently, especially since Packing took a lot of effort physically, mentally, and emotionally. The way I was drawing, which started with stick figures unless I was referencing a CSP model, took a while and left me with little wiggle room when trying to adapt poses and proportions to a character design. This was one of my first attempts breaking away from that mold, and if my attitude is anything to go by, I'm not happy with how this turned out.
My biggest points of contention here are the shoulders, arms, and legs, especially the knees. I wanted to show where the arms and legs would bend, but I'm not fond of the approach I took here; Electra's upper torso is too wide, his shoulders are too small, and his arms are too thin. This gave Electra a disproportionately large upper torso, where the line dictating the end of his chest and the start of his shoulders was practically nonexistent.
The elbows and knees have the same problem, as I drew both in a way where they appear as if they can bend in every possible direction rather than the directions which they are supposed to bend. I know that I was laser-focused on getting his hands right at the time, but I can't remember why the legs turned out the way they did. The most I can chalk it up to was poorly defining the knees, if I even defined them at all, to poorly balancing the dimensions of the torso. There is practically no transition from the mid-torso to the lower torso, and if I took more time back then to give things a second look, I would have been able to iron out the issues I had with the piece before saying it was finished.
Some issues I have with the piece were entirely preventable, and the best way I can sum them up is by saying "it was a good idea at the time." While his white goggles and ear piercings stuck around, his hairstyle here is deader than disco. I wanted to give him a spiky hairstyle that was as unkempt as it was spiky, and my way of going about it was referencing the hairstyles of Midoriya, Bakugo, and Kirishima from My Hero Academia, all of whom have large and spiky hair. The end result was a hairdo that looked more like a frizzy afro than a spiky haircut with so much volume it could make his InkScape Design blush. Safe to say, it didn't take long for me to scrap this hairstyle, especially once I realized how much I'd have to draw.
The other issues that were entirely preventable were Electra's expression and the interpretation of his shirt. I've seen shirts that do silhouette prints well, but this was clearly a fluke. The shirt only looks good with the lab coat on, and it's because unlike the shirt, I defined the shoulders. Electra's face, meanwhile, was supposed to be a smile of disbelief, but since the rest of his body is so stiff, it comes off wrong and looks very awkward. Perhaps it would have looked better if his body matched his face, but I can't say for sure.
I'd like to wrap this up on a positive note, so I'll share something about this piece that I'm legitimately proud of- his lab coat. While he's no stranger to science attire, I'm proud of how I handled the sleeves, the tears, and the lapels. His lab coat was always torn at the sleeves and at the bottom, but I removed the sleeve tears and focused solely on the bottom tears, which turned out much better than I expected. I love how large the lapels are too, they add a lot of character in a subtle way. Safe to say, those details are here to stay.
As I'm writing this, I've realized that I've spent too much time ranting about Electra's old design and not enough time discussing his new design, which this piece was the foundation for. I'd recommend looking at that piece rather than staring at this eyesore, Electra's new look is much easier on the eyes.